Compromise needed in country club flap

U-T San Diego Editorial Board

We’re dismayed to learn that the fate of the Escondido Country Club and its 50-year-old golf course may be headed to the ballot, and perhaps to court.

West Hollywood developer Stuck in the Rough recently bought the 110-acre facility and a short time later announced plans to close the club, saying it wasn’t making any money. The company said it may want to build homes on the site.

That riled nearby residents, who say the plan to transform the golf course into a housing tract violates a 1963 agreement with the city planning commission that calls for the site to be maintained as recreational open space as long as it remains in private hands.

Residents have enlisted two attorneys to craft a ballot measure ensuring that the site remains open space. One of them, Ken Lounsbery, said what prevents this case from being a classic showdown between NIMBYs and a developer is that 1963 agreement.

We urge both sides to sit down and hammer out a compromise. An election, particularly if enough signatures are gathered to force a special election, would be costly – and likely lead to litigation.

Is there a chance both sides could meet halfway – perhaps through a smaller residential footprint and an open-space buffer between the new tract and existing homes? We sincerely hope so.